


Paper Maps

by twistyhunter



Category: No. 6 (Anime & Manga), No. 6 - All Media Types, No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, College, College AU, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Modern Era, Road Trips, Slow Burn, Slow Burn AF, big gay roadtrips, trying to avoid your problems with spontaneous roadtrip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 13:21:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16198364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistyhunter/pseuds/twistyhunter
Summary: The map was a plan for both of them to go out and see the world once they were all grown up. They had tried to go when they were twelve, but Shion’s mother had caught them packing their bags before they could even head out the door. Maybe it was just a dumb childhood dream to Nezumi, but to Shion, it was something that he had looked forward to. He knew now that something like that was a little more idealistic, but it was still something nice to think about.“You wanted to go to all of the tourist traps.”“You wanted to see the big rubber band ball.”Nezumi sat up abruptly at that one and frowned. “It’s impossible to make something like that without the rubber bands snapping. It isn’t real, and I know that.”------A modern No.6 Road Trip AU! Tags and warnings may change, and some mature content will follow in later chapters!





	Paper Maps

It was a crisp afternoon in October and students all over campus were leaving their classes with their shoulders slumped in relief. Midterms were finally over for everyone, and it felt like the school could breathe again. Shion wasn’t particularly worried; he had studied enough, and although the exams were difficult, he managed to be able to get through them with the confidence that he passed. Whether or not he missed a few questions on his 18th century English Literature midterm, though… that was another story.

He let out a quiet yawn as he headed to one of the little cafes on campus with a gentle smile on his face. It was a small place that was tucked into the corner of one of the art buildings, and usually busy despite there being not a lot of fine arts majors. The menu was cheap, the tea was always warm and fresh, and there were plenty of chairs and tables for students to set up shop for long hours of studying. Shion liked the place for the tea at first, but he started going more often when he found out Nezumi worked there part time.

Nezumi usually worked in the mornings, so he was bound to be off work by now, if not just clocking out. Shion had only just made it through the glass doors when he caught a glimpse of Nezumi walking into the backroom while untying his apron. He stood off to the side as he waited for him, not worrying about whether or not the two other employees thought he was loitering. They knew by now that Shion coming in usually meant that he was just here to pick Nezumi up from work.

For now, he would just take in the smell of the tea being brewed and the small cakes being baked. It was lively as far as customers went, but there were quite a few empty chairs. _Must be celebrating the end of midterms,_ Shion thought, taking a seat for himself. It was rare to be able to find a free seat.

“Hey. Do you plan on staying here, Shion?”

It wasn’t long before he heard Nezumi’s smooth voice. He looked up to see Nezumi walking in his direction, tossing his scarf around his shoulders. His hair was still up despite being free from work, and his eyebrows were knit into an almost scowl. He didn’t even stop at Shion’s table, but passed by him with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “If you are, I’m leaving you behind.”

“Rough day?” Shion asked as he rose from his seat and followed him out.

Nezumi made a non-committed huff as they walked along the sidewalk to the nearby bus stop. Thankfully no one else was there, so Nezumi unceremoniously dumped himself into the bench as they waited. “People order the damndest things… it would be like taking care of you all day.”

Shion rolled his eyes at the pet name. “I’m not _that_ picky about my tea.”

“ _Can I add just a little bit of lemon to my tea today?_ ” Nezumi made his voice sound a little higher, as if to mimic Shion’s, before his face fell flat, giving him a blank stare. “Sure. Anything for you, your majesty.”

“Safu had made that recommendation to me that day…” Shion frowned a little at that before the bus arrived. Somewhere between getting up from the bench to sitting down on the bus, Shion caught a small grin on Nezumi’s lips. He couldn’t help but stare at him when they sat down.

Nezumi had always been beautiful, like some kind of Greek statue. The light of the afternoon sun clung to the edges of Nezumi’s face as his profile was framed by the scenery passing by. It was more often nowadays that Shion had taken a liking to sitting on the outside seat so that he could watch Nezumi instead of just looking out the window.

“....Shion.”

“Huh? What?” Shion straightened up at the sound of his name and Nezumi raised an eyebrow.

“You’re spacing out again. Seriously, is there anything going on in that big head of yours?” Nezumi moved to gently knock on the side of Shion’s head with his knuckles. Shion scowled a little as he leaned back from the touch. “Stop that…”

“I mean it. When you look at me like that, I can tell that nothing’s going on in there. Did you burn yourself out from studying or something? Or did you dump everything into graduate school applications?”

“No-- of course not… The exams weren’t that hard.” Shion idly scratched the back of his neck.

“Didn’t you say that someone from one of your midterms walked out crying?” Nezumi asked, his face bearing no sympathy. “Poor thing… maybe that’s why you’ve got all of this white hair.”

He felt Nezumi’s hand slide up the back of his neck to comb his hair, and he shivered, but not enough to shake Nezumi’s hand away. Instead, he reached up to tap the back of his hand on Nezumi’s arm and he scoffed. “You know that isn’t why. However, I did put in some applications the other night.”

“Even that one in… where was it… Germany?” Shion could feel Nezumi’s stormy eyes on him, and Shion shook his head.

“France. And no… of course not. I couldn’t get into that school even if I tried.” It was one of Shion’s dream schools, ever since they had come to a graduate school fair during their freshman year. Huber University was a private University that had one of the best biology programs in the world and an endless amount of different facilities that students could use for whatever projects they were working on, for school and for their own personal research. However, the acceptance rate was _very_ low and the requirements were quite difficult to meet anyway. Nezumi’s hand moved away from Shion’s hair, and Shion met eyes with him.

“Shion,” Nezumi said, his voice firm. “You could get into any school you wanted with grades like yours. You and I both know that’s true, so don’t try to be modest about it.”

“But.. Nezumi, I--”

“You’re an idiot if you don’t think that’s true.” Nezumi pursed his lips together, and Shion knew he wasn’t going to convince Nezumi otherwise. He was quite stubborn in his beliefs, as was Shion.

“Fine. But you have no right to be surprised when I get rejected,” Shion said as he felt the bus slowly come to a stop. He knew he was smart. He had always been gifted since he was young, excelling at the top of his class since preschool. However, studying abroad meant being far away from Nezumi, as well as his mother, and it wasn’t like him and his mother were well enough off that he could just fly across the world to a school that sounded so much like a dream…

The bus arrived just a few blocks away from the bakery that his mother owned, which also had her apartment on the top floor and the car parked on the curb in front.  Shion had decided to still live there through college for the sake of saving some money, but he didn’t mind that. He never felt stifled there. In fact, walking inside the front door to the bakery always felt warm and inviting.

Karan was behind the counter, cashing out a little girl and her father with a basket of muffins, and she was smiling so fondly at the two of them that anyone could tell that Karan was a mother. “Bye-bye miss Karan!” said the little girl, who waved wildly behind her as her father guided them out the door. Nezumi and Shion took a step aside to let them through, and Shion couldn’t stop himself from giving the girl a small wave. She lit up on her way out.

“Just like your Mama,” Nezumi said under his breath, but his tone was surprisingly gentle.

“Welcome home, Shion! Oh-- and Nezumi, too!” Karan beamed behind the counter. She immediately began to move around it as Shion and Nezumi walked her way, meeting them for a hug. Shion could see out of the corner of his eye that Nezumi somewhat stiffened up. He was never the huggy type, but for some reason, he would let Karan give him hugs often.

“You say that like you’re surprised. He always walks me home,” Shion said.

“Did I?”

“Don’t worry, Miss Karan. I only came here for those muffins,” Nezumi interjected with a playful smirk as he leaned against the counter. Karan clicked her tongue in mock-disappointment, shaking her head. She returned back behind the counter as the boys pulled away from her, and she started to adjust the bandana wrapped around her hair.

“I’m sorry to tell you that we just sold the last few. You’ll have to wait a little while for more of them.”

“I’d wait forever for your muffins, Miss Karan,” Nezumi purred. His eyes were soft, and the way that he leaned even _more_ against the front counter was almost graceful. Shion rolled his eyes.

“Don’t try to sweet talk me into making you extra, again,” Karan warned, her face hardening just a little bit. However, she still let her expression fall into a sweet smile as she she closed down her register. “Go on and head upstairs. I’m assuming you’re staying for dinner?”

“Have I ever been one to turn down Miss Karan’s cooking?” Nezumi replied.

“More like you’re staying for free food,” Shion added under his breath, and when Nezumi looked back at him, Shion couldn’t stop his wry grin. “Come on.”

He motioned to start for the stairs down the back hallway, encouraging Nezumi to follow him. For once, Nezumi did as he was told and followed Shion up the stairs.

“Your remarks are getting better. I’m afraid I’ve created a monster,” Nezumi said once they reached the top of the stairs.

“I only learned from the best.”

On top of the bakery was Karan’s apartment. It was a modest little place, but the smells from the bakery always permeated through the floor. Half of Shion’s childhood memories consisted of waking up in the mornings with the warm smell of bread pulling him from sleep. It was even more exciting when a new smell would hit his nose. The main room was more or less a living room and a dining room without an extra wall. Even though Karan had acted a little surprised at seeing Nezumi, the table had already been set for three.

Shion opened the door to his room and stepped aside for Nezumi to walk inside. Shion’s room was small, but comfortable enough. He had a number of small plants and flowers on little shelves, on his desk, and where there weren’t plants, there were all different kinds of books. Most of them were nonfiction or old textbooks, but over the years, Nezumi had made a small contribution of Shakespearean works to Shion’s collection.

“You ought to go into gardening at this rate,” Nezumi said as he plopped himself down at the end of Shion’s bed with his bag dropped at his feet. He leaned back, putting his arms behind his head so that he could relax comfortably into the blanket below him.

“I just like studying them.” Shion took a seat at his desk, resting his bag on it and turning in his chair so that he could watch Nezumi for a few moments.

A quiet squeaking sound arose from Nezumi’s jacket as three small mice wriggled from his pockets, one black, one brown, and one white. They were squeaking in protest, causing Shion to snort.

“I’m surprised that they let you take them to work,” Shion said, watching as the three mice crawled up to sit on Nezumi’s chest, as if waiting for him. Nezumi somehow knew what they wanted, gently petting them with one hand. “You’re assuming that they know,” he said.

“Aren’t rodents not allowed in the kitchen?”

At that, Nezumi sat up, giving Shion a blank look. “First of all, that little tea shop makes your Mama’s kitchen look like some fancy restaurant. Second, they’re _clean_.”

It was Shion’s turn to receive a bombardment of squeaks from the three mice, and Shion could practically hear the hurt in their noises. “I never said that! I’m sorry. Will you ever forgive me?” Shion leaned up against the back of his chair, extending an open palm out in the mice’s general direction.

The brown one was the first to give in to Shion’s apologetic gesture, jumping off of Nezumi’s stomach and skittering across the floor before crawling up Shion’s pantleg and torso to rub its head against Shion’s cheek. After a beat, the other two followed suit, before the three of them started to scurry into his curly, white hair.

“Hey-- hold on a second! That tickles!”

As he tried to reach around to grab the mice out of his hair, he heard a soft laugh coming from Nezumi’s direction. It was distracting enough to make him forget about the mice, so they started to move faster. “Stop-- stop that!” Shion gasped, trying to breathe, but the little paws padding throughout the back of his head made it difficult.

And suddenly, the mice flew from his head and onto the desk, practically begging for Shion to chase after them. He snickered as he reached out, and the three of them scattered in different directions. Hamlet, the white one, dashed under the bed before Shion could even think of diving under there, so he followed after Cravat, who tried to sneak into a small begonia plant.

“They’re certainly giving you a run for your money today, aren’t they?” Nezumi called from the bed as Shion carefully pushed apart the leaves, handling the plant like glass in order to try and find the little brown ball of fur.

“They didn’t even give me time to count! If you three are going to play hide and seek with me, you might as well follow the rules.”

“Rules are made to be broken, aren’t they?” Nezumi said, cooly. “Ah. There’s…”

Shion looked up when Nezumi trailed off and he followed his gaze to the top of his bookshelf. It was where he had kept some old notebooks and folders, all organized neatly. However, they started to poke out, as if something was behind them and pushing them out just enough to make some room.

“Tsukiyo!”

A few old folders ended up falling from the shelf, leaving just enough room for the midnight mouse to poke his head through. His small, grape-colored eyes twinkled brightly in innocence, though Shion knew it was mischief. Papers and folders fell to the floor in a crinkling rush, covering the hardwood with old papers that his mother insisted that he kept.

“You made a mess…” Shion groaned, kneeling down to try scooping them back up. Nezumi only watched from above as the mice popped out of their hiding places and sat on his lap, watching Shion too.

“Good work, little one,” Nezumi said, giving Tsukiyo some scratches beneath his chin. He nodded his head to some scribbly coloring pages. “I see your artwork hasn’t improved much since back then. What were you going for… Picasso? Or Pollock?”

“I was five… just-- hand me that one by your foot.”

Shion felt his ears burn a little bit as he started burying away the pages into different folders, not exactly caring to organize them. He’d fix it later, when Nezumi wasn’t there to roast him over his lack of an artistic gift. At least there were spelling tests in the mess that were perfect scores… he was never too much of the creative type.

Nezumi rolled his eyes and did as he was told, bending down to pick up a piece of paper that seemed folded over, and yellow with age. Shion reached out, expecting Nezumi to just hand it to him, but much to Shion’s dismay, Nezumi didn’t move. He looked it over, turning it in his fingers before opening it up.

“...you kept this?”

The paper folded out into a large sheet, and Shion immediately remembered what it was. He was a little shocked that he had forgotten about the thing, but the memory was suddenly as clear as the world in front of him.

Shion walked around to sit on the bed beside Nezumi, looking over his shoulder at an old map of the United States. There was marker all over it, arrows and notes of a bunch of different places from Massachusetts from California. The handwriting was faded and smudged, but just from looking at it, Shion could remember all that was written on it. What they had written on it, together.

“Yeah… why wouldn’t I? It was important.”

“When we were _twelve_. It’s just junk, now,” Nezumi said, starting to fold it up. Shion reached out to take it from his hands to look over it himself, his face softening at the memory. It was nostalgic for him more than anything, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“What, you don’t remember our big plan? _You_ were the one who dreamed of seeing the Hollywood sign.”

“ _When we were twelve!_ ” Shion watched as Nezumi’s cheeks turned from porcelain to a dusty pink. He scoffed, laying back down on the bed and keeping his eyes on anything but Shion. “You should have thrown that away. It’s all dumb childhood dreams.”

“The world’s biggest bookstore, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon…” Shion muttered idly as he looked over each note. Some places were scribbled out and rewritten, and he chuckled to himself as he remembered the two of them arguing about the _best_ places to go versus just anywhere.

The map was a plan for both of them to go out and see the world once they were all grown up. They had tried to go when they were twelve, but Shion’s mother had caught them packing their bags before they could even head out the door. Maybe it was just a dumb childhood dream to Nezumi, but to Shion, it was something that he had looked forward to. He knew now that something like that was a little more idealistic, but it was still something nice to think about.

“You wanted to go to all of the tourist traps.”

“You wanted to see the big rubber band ball.”

Nezumi sat up abruptly at that one and frowned. “It’s impossible to make something like that without the rubber bands snapping. It isn’t real, and I _know_ that.”

“There’s pictures of it online, Nezumi,” Shion answered, quite amused at Nezumi’s insistence. To further his point, he folded the map up and set it on his desk so he could take his laptop out of his bag and open it up. It only took a few moments before Google was able to pull up the image, and Nezumi’s frown only grew deeper. The original one that they had heard about as children had only been outdone a few times over, so Shion looked around his desk for a pen. “I suppose we’ll have to update the map.”

The sound of Shion’s bed sighing meant that Nezumi had flopped back down on it, and Shion rolled his eyes as he opened the map back up to write in the rubber band ball’s new location in Nevada.

“You’re such a weird guy, Shion… keeping a hold on childish things like that is just a waste of space.”

“What are you so upset for?” Shion asked. “You’re the one who came up with it. Don’t you still want to--”

“ _Absolutely not._ ”

Shion looked over to see that Nezumi had rolled over to the side, facing away from him. Although him and Nezumi were nearly inseparable at this point, sometimes, Shion _still_ couldn’t tell what he was thinking. It was just a childhood fantasy, right? There was nothing harmless about it, at least nothing he knew about.

Before he could ask, Karan called them for dinner.

* * *

 

The air was surprisingly comfortable at dinner. It was almost as if they had never found the map at all with the way that Nezumi carried himself, charming and calm as usual. It was like a regular evening for them, but Shion couldn’t stop thinking about the map and why Nezumi would want to throw something like that away.

When they were younger, Nezumi was the one who had mentioned traveling in the first place. Although it made Shion sad at first, to leave his mom and go on some big trip, Nezumi had _insisted_ that they go and explore what the world had to offer. After meeting up at the park after school, like they usually did, Nezumi had pulled the map he found out of his backpack and explained how each place mentioned on it had something different. How he didn’t want to stay in their little town for too long.

He had asked Shion to hold onto it and find more places to see, and sometimes when he came over to hang out in Shion’s room for a while, he would go in and mark spots himself. Sometimes he would mark out some spots without Shion’s permission, and every once in a while, Shion would try the same. The poor map almost looked like a strategy board with all of the different notes and directions, but Shion still cherished each conversation and spat.

Nezumi left for the night with a smile in his eye for Karan, and something else unreadable to Shion. Nezumi was never one to forget, so Shion had assumed it was something about that map that was bothering him. Maybe Nezumi would tell him in time, but Shion had no clue how to ask him.

Instead, he carefully folded the map and set it off to the side on his desk. He wasn’t going to throw it away, or at least not yet. He had other things to worry about, like graduate school applications and calling Safu.

Safu had been his best friend since early elementary school, and even though they didn’t share the same school from fifth grade onwards, they were still close, practically siblings. She had stayed in the city up until high school, but received a full scholarship to a school in California to study Psychology. Since he couldn’t see her anymore, he usually ended up calling her a few times a week.

He was scrolling through the list of schools he was applying to, but he couldn’t quite focus. All he could see were Nezumi’s stormy eyes staring back at him; a grey fog in which there was something he couldn’t quite see. Maybe… he wasn’t allowed to see that yet.

Safu’s ringtone made him jump, but he relaxed when he picked up, starting their usual chat about their week. How school was going, what terrible group project they had to do with people who didn’t want to do the work, Safu’s plans with her classmates. Shion would have relayed the same thing, but he wasn’t exactly the type to make many friends. Safu used to be the same way, but Shion was glad that she managed to make friends without him being there.

Instead, Nezumi ended up coming into the conversation again, and Shion sighed. “I don’t know what it was about the map, but… he got angry with me again.”

“He was probably embarrassed about it,” Safu said, her voice as monotone as ever. “You’re thinking too much into it.”

“Am I?”

Her voice fell quiet on the other end for a few moments, before she stated simply, “It’s a symptom of attraction.”

“Safu!” Shion felt his ears burn and he wanted to sink into his chair. “Not this again…”

“It comes from the adrenaline and norepinephrine traveling through your brain. Your nerves cause you to overthink everything in an attempt to analyze if your attraction is reciprocated, and giving you the potential signal to be able to mate or escape the situation if it’s not reciprocated. It’s a perfectly natural response to--”

“R-Really, Safu! It’s not like _that_ ,” Shion whined. As intriguing as her prattling about the inner workings of the brain and its functions were, it was kind of embarrassing to think about things like that with Nezumi. Attraction… _mating_. Shion shivered.

“From how often you talk about him and the content, it is.”

Shion opened his mouth to protest, but… he couldn’t exactly. He knew that.

His feelings for Nezumi had always been strange, even when they first met. It was at the park down the street from his middle school; Safu had had a psychology club meeting that day, and Shion had wandered to that park on the way home. A boy with dark navy hair had been sitting on the swings, hunched over. Shion would never have thought twice about it, but there was a gash in his shoulder, causing the snow at his feet to turn red.

Karan hadn’t come home yet from the store, so Shion had figured out how to patch the young boy up until then. The boy was snarky, cold, but there was something about his eyes that Shion had been entranced by, that he couldn’t become too angry.

And since then, he would find that boy at the park every now and then after school until the spring of that year. Shion had thought he would never see Nezumi again, but Nezumi turned up working at the cafe during his freshman year of college.

Nezumi had matured with all the grace that could be given to one person, and Shion’s gaze would always be lingering on him. If he wasn’t around, he’d be thinking about him. He had confided in Safu months ago, and since then, she’s brought the topic up every so often. He knew from Safu’s little lectures like these that he certainly felt something to that degree for Nezumi, but… putting it so emotionlessly made it feel like it wasn’t enough.

It didn’t matter too much to Shion, since he knew Nezumi didn’t feel the same.

Still, the thought of being with Nezumi… of getting to be by his side closer than anyone else, to maybe go on a date every now and then or to kiss him and let their fingers interlock, to have _sex_ …

“Have you told him?”

“O-Of course not! I’ve told you, he’d _never_ …”

“You won’t know something like that unless you ask, Shion,” Safu said, a little too calm, even for her. “If you’re not going to try and enter a relationship, you shouldn’t waste your time.”

“I…” Again, he couldn’t find an argument against her. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to move past this; that was indicating that there was an issue. He was fine as to where they were at, even though he wanted a little more. He wanted to be greedy, to reach out and pull Nezumi into his arms, but he wouldn’t.

Nezumi had never been in a relationship with anyone, as far as Shion knew. He never talked about things like that, and if someone brought it up to him, he’d play it off and switch topics, so Shion had assumed that Nezumi was never interested in anyone.

Shion liked how they were. He liked getting to meet up with Nezumi after his classes, either picking him up from work or theatre class. He liked it when Nezumi came over and leaned back on his bed, either reading a book or quoting one or just talking with Shion for hours on end. He liked the way that Nezumi’s silver tongue never worked on his mother, and how he could see some warmth behind his calm face whenever he ate dinner with them.

If that changed because Shion pushed him away with a strong feeling like that, Shion would never be able to forgive himself.

“How would he feel if you applied to some of the schools that are farther away? Like… Connecticut or Ohio,” Safu’s voice yet again snapped him from his thoughts.

“I don’t know,” Shion said, turning back to start scrolling through his list. He only had a few more schools to apply to. “I don’t think he would mind too much.”

“The fact that he would mind at all indicates he would want you to stay close to him and--”

“He suggested that I apply to Huber.”

It took a few moments for Safu to answer. “Huh. How strange… it _is_ a nice school, though. I applied to that one too since their Psychology program is pretty nice. Maybe… maybe we’ll be in the same school again.”

“After all these years? That’d take a miracle.”

Safu’s laugh came quietly through the receiver, and it was almost like she was in the room with him. It was times like this in which he wished she was there. “You should try it, Shion. I know you would get accepted.”

“...thank you, Safu.”

“It’s nothing,” she said, her tone softer this time. “You should sleep soon. I know it’s the weekend, but a regular sleep schedule helps the brain maintain itself.”

“I know, I know,” Shion replied, but he didn’t move away from his computer. Instead, he pulled up his application to Huber’s master program. “I’ll try it and see what happens. Get some sleep.”

“I will.” There was a pause before she continued, suddenly. “Oh-- and Shion?”

“Hm? What is it, Safu?”

At first, she didn’t answer, and Shion raised an eyebrow. She usually wasn’t this quiet over the phone. “I… I’ll… talk to you later.”

Before Shion could respond, she quickly hung up. It was odd, but not too uncommon enough for him to worry. She had told him before that her signal wasn’t the strongest, and her texts would sometimes come in threes, so he didn’t see much of it, and set his phone down on the desk.

He eyed the screen for a little while longer, something in his stomach forming knots.

He had applied to multiple schools, and his grades were quite high. He didn’t have too many extracurricular activities, but he certainly had enough points to be a noticeable applicant on many of his previous applications. This school was so far away, the cost was quite high, but yet… there was no problem in at least applying, right?

He couldn’t go; being that far from his mother would only make her worry, and he’d be even farther away from Safu than he was now. And Nezumi… Nezumi had been the one to suggest that, right?

Perhaps Nezumi still had that dream of traveling around and seeing what the world had to offer. It was like when Nezumi had brought him the map, egging him on and asking him if he had ever been curious about what the world was like outside of this one town. Shion had taken a vacation before outside, and had even visited Safu once or twice, but this would be much farther than ever before.

Applying to a school like this would be another childish dream to chase, and there was no problem in gathering a nice thought like that. With a hesitant click, he submitted the application and stared at the _Application Sent_ button for a while. It was nice to imagine, but he knew that his submission was just going to be another folded up paper in a folder on his shelf.

* * *

Months had passed since then. Fall turned into winter, and not before long, it was spring. Nezumi hadn’t brought up the map at all, and it eventually found its way back in the folder where it belonged. Maybe Safu was right; Nezumi had just been embarrassed by the whole thing. The childhood wonder in his eyes certainly clashed with his cool and protected character now. Every so often, Shion would tease him about it or make a poor rubber band ball, but other than that, nothing.

Something else that was strange was that Safu’s phone calls were becoming less frequent, maybe once or twice a week. He figured that maybe she had been busy studying and preparing for graduate school like he was, but it still worried him all the same.

It was the Friday before Spring Break, and Shion couldn’t wait to relax. Rather, he would end up relaxing for maybe a day or two before being ready to get back into studying new material and slowly get restless over the week, but still, it would be nice to be able to help out his mother during the break. He enjoyed working in the bakery every now and then.

Since January, he had been receiving acceptance letter after acceptance letter from most of the schools that he applied to, which he wasn’t quite surprised by. Reasons worth celebrating, but none had served as a shock. What was more surprising was the rejection or two, but it wasn’t something that troubled him too much. His options were open, and he hadn’t accepted any offers yet. He was going to accept the offer from Vermont,  but his mother insisted on waiting until he heard back from each school he had applied to.

Free from his World Religions class, a throwaway elective for him, he started to make his way down to the bus stop. Nezumi had to work in the afternoon, so it wasn’t odd of him to head home without him. If Nezumi wasn’t too grouchy, he’d probably come over later that night. Shion tucked his earbuds in his ears as he climbed onto the bus, picking some easy-going music for the ride home.

Red eyes lazily watched the world outside of the window, the same street signs he had grew up reading passing by. He had long since memorized them by now; not that he minded rereading. It was comforting in a way, to know this town so well.

The bus ride seemed shorter than usual, or maybe he had been lost in his own thoughts long enough that he hadn’t realized the amount of time passing. He hopped off the bus, stretching a little as it drove off down the street. Shion watched it for a few moments before making his turn to his mother’s bakery.

Strangely, however, the sign on the front door was turned to the _Closed_ side. Was she not home? The car was still parked in front of the shop in its usual place, so it wasn’t like she had driven off somewhere. He dug into his pocket and fumbled for his keys, unlocking the door before locking it behind him.

Upstairs, Karan was sitting at the dining room table, a stack of envelopes on the table. For the most part, it looked like the usual bills or advertisements, inquiries for the store, those sorts of things. However, Karan was holding a larger envelope in her arms, and she held it out to Shion as soon as he opened the door.

“There’s mail for you, Shion.”

“What is it?” Shion asked as he slipped out of his shoes, keeping them by the door. He walked over and slung his bag over the back of one of the dining room chairs before sitting beside her, curiously taking the envelope. Instead of answering, Karan only leaned forward a little more, her eyes glittering in anticipation.

“ _What?_ ” Shion asked again, before flipping the envelope over to look for himself. However, the moment he saw it, he knew exactly what his mother was so excited for. The address was from Munich, Germany. It was an envelope from Huber University, and a heavy one at that. “I-It could be just an advertisement…”

“Just open it, Shion!” Karan said, tapping his shoulder excitedly. She crossed her fingers, and Shion could have guessed that she was most likely crossing her toes in her slippers. He had told her that he had applied there on a whim, that he wasn’t expecting much, but she had insisted even more than Safu that he would be accepted.

Whether or not all of her hopes were enough was inside the envelope.

Shion didn’t know when he had decided to hold his breath, but he let out a heavy exhale before he hooked his finger underneath the flap of the envelope and tore it open, pulling out the contents and setting the envelope off to the side. In his hand was a thick booklet, as well as a letter printed on thick, high quality paper. He cleared his throat as he started to read it out loud.

“ _Shion,_

_We would like to inform you that you have been accepted into Huber University’s Masters Program for Biological Research and Analysis.”_

Shion couldn’t read the rest before his mother let out an excited gasp and lunged forward to throw her arms around him, hugging him tight. At first, he couldn’t return the hug, but stare wide-eyed and grip the paper a little tighter, like if he wasn’t watching it, it would disappear.

“You did it! Shion-- this is so wonderful!” Karan gushed, moving back to hold his face and press an excited kiss onto his forehead. “Shion, you got _accepted!_ I’m so proud of you!”

“Hold on a minute…” Shion said. He didn’t want to interrupt her, but he wasn’t headed out to Germany just yet. He pulled back from her to reread over the letter. The rest of its contents were just a few more details about the program itself, what he would be doing, numbers to contact about questions… “It’s expensive, isn’t it?” He scanned over the letter, trying to see if they mentioned any kind of scholarship information in it.

Karan moved around to read over his shoulder, and she reached out to tap on one of the paragraphs eagerly. “Shion, they’ll even pay for your _airfare._ It says so right here. Food and board, tuition, travel expenses… Shion, this is _incredible_.”

He could hardly believe it himself. This school had been famous for it’s quickly booming programs, not just in biology, but medicine, political sciences… the level of technology was prestigious. And although the curriculum was much tougher than his classes now, the thought of being challenge and tested amongst some of the best young minds in the world was too tempting to resist. He could practically taste the sterile air of the state-of-the-art labs that this school had; looking at the pictures on the cover of the booklet wasn’t nearly enough.

“I… I have to accept this. That’s online, right?” Shion asked. Before he could move to get up, Karan was already pulling away and nodding quickly. “Go, Shion. Go ahead.”

It was ironic, considering that she was the one who had suggested he waited until every school he applied to had given him a response. However, she understood that he couldn’t get a better offer, and he appreciated her encouraging him instead of insisting still to wait. This was what he had wanted, and he wasn’t going to let this perfect opportunity go away.

Shion moved to grab his bag and pull out his computer, logging onto Huber’s new student portal and heading to the acceptance page. His mouse hovered over the bright gold button and he paused, looking up at Karan before clicking it.

Shion was going to Huber University in Munich, Germany.

“Congratulations, Shion!” Karan said, squeezing his shoulders and smiling from ear to ear. At first, Shion wore the same expression, but as the reality of the situation started to grow on him, his face started to fall.

“But-- mom, it’s really far--” Shion started, but Karan shook her head.

“I know it is, but… that shouldn’t stop you from being able to chase your dreams.” Her tone softened as she watched him with her gentle, almond-shaped eyes. “You were meant to do something amazing, Shion. I’ve known that since the first moment I saw you.” She moved to hold one of his cheeks with her palm and she was still smiling with all of the pride she could muster. There was still something sad in the shine of her eyes, and that made Shion’s chest ache. “As wonderful as it would be to have those amazing things be here, I knew that that wasn’t going to be the case either. It would be selfish of me to keep you here, and you’re an adult. You could travel all over the world, as far as I care, but just make sure to come home every now and then, won’t you?”

Shion could feel his worries start melting away, and he smiled back at her. He’d miss her, he already did. “I will, Mom.”

In return, she gave him a gentle pat on his cheek. “Good.” She pulled away, the pride practically glowing off of her. “I’ll go ahead and start dinner. Is Nezumi coming over tonight?”

“Yeah--” the word came out of his mouth just as fast as he sucked it back in. Just the mention of his name brought upon him the realization that he hadn’t told Nezumi that he had gotten accepted before he had made his decision. That in only a few months, Shion would be travelling across the world and staying there for two years. “Y…. yeah. I think so. Let me ask…”

Karan waved her hand. “If anything, I’ll at least make enough so that we can have leftovers.”

“Sure…"

Shion trailed off as Karan walked out of his room, closing the door behind him. It was as if Karan leaving the room had dropped an anchor over his head, and he slumped a little over his desk. He wasn’t sure how Nezumi was going to take the news, and Shion couldn’t go back on his decision now. He had sentenced himself to this fate, and now… all he could do was tell Nezumi and hope for the best.

Shion tucked the envelope away with the papers on his top shelf and closed his laptop, his stomach in knots.

* * *

Nezumi had texted him saying that he was going to come over after he got out of work, and all Shion could do was wait. He felt like he was awake in his own grave, waiting on his past mistakes to bury him. Well-- accepting the full-ride scholarship to a prestigious school overseas wasn’t a mistake, but accepting the full-ride scholarship to a prestigious school overseas without considering your best friend’s feelings was another matter altogether.

Shion knew that Nezumi wasn’t the type to have many friends. If Nezumi wasn’t hanging around Shion at school or at his mom’s apartment… Nezumi would most likely be reading by himself. Or working. Shion wasn’t the type to go out and do things either, so the pair of them usually ended up being attached to the hip. It was a shock to Shion’s mom that Nezumi _wasn’t_ going to make it to dinner.

Even Shion could taste a mild tinge of regret in the back of his throat. Shion had hardly traveled anywhere. When he visited Safu, he’d travel by plane and only stay around her general vicinity. And when he returned, Nezumi was always the first one to greet him at the airport hangar.

Nezumi had slept over often enough that some of Nezumi’s clothes would end up getting mixed in Shion’s laundry, but neither would mind, since he would be back again within the week, if not the next day. They had spent countless hours just reading together in the comfort and quiet of Shion’s small room or in Nezumi’s little studio apartment. Shion had woken up so many times to Nezumi’s face right beside his that he had memorized Nezumi’s face.

By fall, he’d be an ocean away.

So, Shion paced in his room again, and again, and again, muling over how exactly he should break the news. He had to be honest. It was the only way that they could work together with this accordingly without causing too much of a problem. He walked over to the mirror standing in the corner of his room, watching the crimson eyes staring back at him.

“Nezumi… I’m moving.”

“Nezumi, I’m going to Germany because I really like this school and they’re also offering to pay for everything.”

He cursed a little at himself as he tested out the various different ways to try and bring it up. First of all, it sounded stupid to talk to himself in front of a mirror. It helped voice his thoughts into formative words, but it was a little embarrassing to hear him say it out loud to himself. Just be direct and straightforward…

The sudden click of his window’s latch made him jump and spin on his heel, watching as Nezumi climbed on through from the fire escape. Although Nezumi had changed into his jacket and ripped cargo pants, Shion could still smell the lingering scent of coffee grounds when Nezumi entered.

“Did you just pick my lock?” Shion asked, giving Nezumi a suspicious look.

“Are you surprised?”

Shion smiled. He couldn’t stop himself when it came to Nezumi. “I ought to call the police, you know.”

Nezumi raised his arms above his head, stretching them out as a yawn escaped him. “I didn’t want to wait, since your majesty was so demanding of me coming over. ‘We need to talk about something.’ Really, Shion, am I your lover?”

Even though Nezumi had taunted him with jokes like this, they never failed to make Shion’s ears turn red. He absently turned away, tugging a little at his snowy bangs from the embarrassment. “Shut up. How else are you supposed to phrase something like that?”

“Get to the point.”

Shion looked up to see Nezumi watching him with his usual, cool expression, but his steel eyes were narrowed just slightly. He hated it sometimes, how Nezumi could read that there was something off in the room. He had hoped that it would melt, like the rest of the world did when Nezumi came into view, but all he could see was the shovels above his head, ready to bury him into a guilty grave.

“Ah-- well… you see…” Shion fumbled, still trying to figure out the words. His eyes looked around the room, trying to keep themselves away from Nezumi’s. If he got lost in them again, he’d space out and only make Nezumi all the more annoyed with him. Then his eyes found the bookshelf.

“Let me show you.”

His feet carried him across the room while his arm reached out, thumbing through the different folders and titles until he found the envelope that held his acceptance letter. He thumbed it, ready to pull it out when he heard the crinkle of the paper beside it.

From the faded color of the paper, Shion knew it was the map.

It was a landscape of different memories and countless conversations that Nezumi and Shion had; their hot debates over where in the world they wanted to go, what they wanted to see. It was history, a dream that was never realized, but never within reach.

Shion’s fingers moved to grab it, and before he could stop himself, he found himself speaking.

“....I want to see the world with you, Nezumi.”

He pulled out the map and looked to see Nezumi with a completely blank face, obviously unimpressed.

“...if that’s how you’re planning on confessing to me, I’ll see the world by myself. Was the last book you read a romance novel?”

“What? No!” Shion’s face _burned_ at that, and he quickly shook his head to clear the thought. Instead, he moved across the room to Nezumi and pressed the map into his chest.

“I’ve been thinking-- we should travel and see all of these things on the map. We could spend the summer-- we could see _everything_.”

“No,” Nezumi answered, the response immediate. “That thing’s old, anyway. And I’m sure that half of those things on there are gone by now.”

“Then we make a new map. We’ll make a new one and we can spend the whole summer finding everything that we’ve always wanted to see.” Nezumi sat on the edge of Shion’s bed, and Shion stood right in front of him. Determination burned in his eyes as he stared down at Nezumi. Excitement did too.

“That’s a terrible idea. And aren’t you supposed to visit Safu again over the summer?”

“It could be a stop on the way.”

Nezumi deadpanned. “Traveling is expensive, you know. And since you’ll be graduated by then, Mama won’t pay for everything for you anymore.”

“I’ll work. Inukashi would let me pick up some hours at the hotel. And I’m sure that I can use some graduation money, too,” Shion insisted, leaning in just a little closer. At first, Nezumi was unaffected, but eventually started leaning away when Shion didn’t stop moving in.

“....you’re really not going to let that damn thing go, are you?”

The corners of Shions lips upturned as he watched Nezumi. His stoic facade was broken by the way Nezumi’s eyes poignantly looked away from him, and the scowl on his face was starting to grow.

“Quit staring at me like that, you weirdo. Seriously, I think _I_ should call the police.”

“You’re the one who broke in,” Shion remarked, and Nezumi rolled his eyes. With a dramatic huff, he flopped backwards onto Shion’s bed, looking away from him.

“....summer is off-season for on-campus jobs anyway.”

And with that, Shion could feel the world melt away again, including the acceptance letter that sat upon the top shelf. Nezumi begrudgingly entertained Shion’s thoughts by asking him about the destinations that he wanted to go, and the night suddenly felt nostalgic. All Nezumi would have to do is let his hair down and shrink a few inches, and it would be like they were twelve all over again. It was strange to think that this time, Nezumi would agree after being so angry the last time that Shion brought up the map, but Shion wasn't going to push his luck on it now. 

The shovels that were ready to bury Shion backed off, but loomed over Shion’s mind for the rest of the semester. No matter how many hours he spent working at Inukashi’s hotel, hours he spent studying, and the multiple opportunities he had alone with Nezumi, the acceptance letter melted away into the background, replaced by their map.

**Author's Note:**

> Sweet Shion, just tell him! 
> 
> It's a little strange writing a No.6 AU that's completely modern. Neither of them have quITE the same character development as they do in the original canon, so I apologize if this starts out rough! I'm still trying to feel them out. 
> 
> I haven't written anything like this in a while, so please tell me your thoughts! 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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